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Summary

God of War Collection does pretty much what it says on the tin - brings together the first two games in the series with a hefty dollop of next-gen gloss lovingly rubbed all over it.

First up: Kratos's very first outing. God of War does, its fair to say, take a fair bit of license when it comes to its depiction of ancient Greece, but looks very interesting nonetheless. Players step into the sandals of Kratos, an ex-soldier of Sparta who is charged with stopping the rogue eponymous God of War Ares from destroying the city of Athens. Tortured by a murky past, Kratos is a formidable kind of chap, with two axe-like Blades of Chaos on chains grafted to his arms. As dangerous as they look, the blades wont be enough to defeat this immortal god. For that youll need the box of Pandora, a super-weapon that is feared by all the gods of Olympus. What follows is a quest across several lavishly detailed environments, fighting all manner of monsters lifted from the pages of ancient myth  the nine headed hydra is merely the first of these that you will meet, and minotaurs, harpies and cyclops follow.

Then, on to the sequel. The development team started with the God of War game mechanic already in place, leaving more time to include features that they just didn't have time for in the first. We saw an expanded collection of combat moves, meaning fans were able to take their favorite combos from the first game and expand on them with new moves and element-based magic. There was also an expansion of the cast, with the return of old favourites such as Cyclops and Cerebus, as well as new enemies and appearances from various ancient Greek Gods and heroes who will grant new weapons and abilities. One example of these are the Icarus wings, granting flight and getting things airborne (although bearing in mind this is the little alabaster guy who piddles in your rich aunty's fountain, Sony might be running the risk of camping up their scarred and scary anti-hero). Throw in an increased number of puzzles intricately woven into the gameplay and more treacherous terrain on which to test your skills, and this is a pearl of a game.